Meet Olivia! (No, This is Not a Repeat Blog)

It was my second day of freshman year.Classes had not yet begun and I ventured out of my dorm alone to attend Sunday Night Student Mass at St. Vincent DePaul Parish .I remember sitting in the pew by myself for the first time.I had always gone to church with my parents, but now it was time for me to independently live out my faith as an adult.

After mass ended, a student announced that any freshmen interested in attending a first-year student retreat should meet at the back of the church. I had attended a few retreats in high school and enjoyed them, so I decided to stay. And boy am I glad that I did! There was a small group of students gathered to learn more information and I introduced myself to one of the girls standing there.

“I’m Olivia,” I said nervously. “No way, I’m Olivia too!” she smiled. I laughed and I asked her if she was going to go on the retreat. She nodded and so we both signed up. We continued to talk as we walked out of church together, finding out that we both wanted to be high school English teachers too. A few weeks later we were reunited on the retreat and became inseparable ever since!

Flash-forward to today and we are still best friends. We lived together for two years (sophomore year in Centennial Hall and junior year in Sheffield Square ) and have more similarities than we can count. But we also have our differences and we use these to challenge each other to become even better people. The only thing better than being friends with Olivia is being able to introduce ourselves as “Olivia and Olivia” wherever we go because we are almost always together.

It’s crazy to think that I would have never met Olivia if I didn’t put myself out there in attending mass alone that second day of freshman year. Sometimes you want to do things that others you know may not want to do and in doing that you can meet new people that you have something (or in my case, almost everything) in common with. So don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and try new things, alone or otherwise!